As the administrator of a handful of websites, I'm often learning new techniques about SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. Basically, SEO is all about using web-savvy techniques to move your site's ranking up in search engines like Google. So, for example, if I was starting a company to sell widgets (which I'm not, because - face it - who needs widgets?), but there were already 10 widget-selling companies on the first page of Google when you search for "widgets," it would take an awful lot of work (and good content on my website) for my new widget company to even show up in a Google search result. So SEO is basically a mysterious set of quasi-scientific methods designed to help people find your site more easily by increasing the likelihood that it's seen in a prominent space on a search engine.
Some say SEO is dead or dying, which likely enrages many who've built careers on it. This belief is built on the premise that Google, Yahoo et al are becoming better and better at filtering out worthless content and finding what's truly good, whether it's optimized for search engines or not.
At any rate, I have a proposition for those looking for more SEO techniques in the wake of Google's continual evolution: name your kid something unique! Seriously: "Tristan Schmid" isn't the most difficult search engine term to get a high ranking for (of course, now that I say that, people will probably try to knock me out of relevant searches just for kicks), and if I were to create a company called "Tristan Schmid Widgets Inc.", all it would take would be some simple traditional marketing, and people could find my company online. Or not, since my name doesn't have the additional T on the end that so many people would likely type.
Anyway, people like Lindsay Lohan's mom have been cultivating their children to make them money for quite awhile, so it's inevitable that someone follows my advice and names their kid Buydietpills.com Jones. Or not.
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Several weeks back I said I'd put some more photos from my ski trip to Whistler, B.C. online. I finally got the film photos back, as well as some digital shots from my parents, so you can check them all out here (though I apologize that they aren't in any particular order — coming from three sources, I didn't take the time to name and organize them all accordingly.)
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This is a little late (meant to post before the holidays), but good nonetheless.
Almost every time my wife and I take our three rather large dogs (Diva's pictured, as puppy, to the left) to a friend or family member's house, I grapple with whether or not I really want to deal with them (the dogs, not the people.) They can be a lot of hassle and work, but in the end, they usually win. So I try to be as considerate as possible to our hosts, though it's not always the easiest thing to do. This New York Times article has some entertaining stories and tips about taking your pets on vacation with you, especially on holidays to friends' or relatives' houses. And though I do refer to my dogs as members of my family, I hope I'm not nearly as extreme as some of the owners in the story. An excerpt:
Difficult guests are no longer limited to humans. The boundaries between humans and animals have been so eaten away by pet therapists, pet designer outfits and pet bar mitzvahs, that it has reached a point where devoted owners, who treat their animals as privileged children, lose all perspective on the pet’s role in their social lives.
More American households have pets than ever — 68.7 million of them in 2006, according to a new survey by the American Veterinary Medical Association, up 12.4 percent from 2001.
Among dog owners, 53.5 percent considered their pets to be members of the family, the survey found. For cats, the number was 49.2 percent.
And the term “family member” should not be used lightly. Ari Henry Barnes, who works in a New York law firm, is so devoted to his cat, Romeo, that he wipes the animal’s behind every time he does “a stinky boom boom.”
Many four-legged family members are routine travelers.
Derek Welsh, the president of www.bringyourpet.com, a “pet-friendly” hotel and lodging directory, estimates the number at roughly 10 million a year.
“If you do get a green light, bring a lot of treats for both your dog and the human host.”